


of poetries and recitals

by trbjihoon



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Poetry, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 02:20:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14802518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trbjihoon/pseuds/trbjihoon
Summary: Soonyoung knows Jihoon hates love poetries but he comes across a piece of writing that Jihoon has been avidly reading ( and maybe, the poem is meant for him ).Alternatively: Soonyoung's constant dilemma between kissing the living daylights out of his best friend or keeping his friendship with Jihoon.





	of poetries and recitals

**Author's Note:**

> greatest appreciation to www.poetryfoundation.org for the poems i am including in this work!
> 
> slightly proofread but never cleared of the tenses mistakes ... sorry

Starting off with their mothers being the best of friends, Jihoon and Soonyoung has had this friendship pact since they were babies, with Soonyoung being born 5 months earlier than Jihoon.

The pair has been spending all of their lives together, getting their first phone…to even confiding into each other about their first girlfriend from high school. Nothing could separate them and they’re even in the same Literature Club in university.

At first, Jihoon was set on joining the Music Club until Soonyoung revealed a acceptance slip addressed to Jihoon which the shorter clearly did not remember signing up for.

__

 

“So… I can’t choose between Sonnet 40 or 65… They’re both my favourite,” Jihoon juts out his bottom lip while collapsed in his bedsheets.

“Didn’t know Mr Music actually reads poems from William Shakespeare,” Soonyoung playfully replies, getting onto the same bed as Jihoon and squirming to become comfortable.

Sheets of words are arranged according to page order while Jihoon softly mumbles out the words as he rolls to his side to gaze at Soonyoung.

His right eye is squished against the black bedsheet as he lazily swings his leg over Soonyoung’s back.

“Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?  
O, none, unless this miracle have might,  
That in black ink my love may still shine bright.”

Jihoon slowly mutters, as Soonyoung darts his friend’s glance to stare at the roaming words on the paper. The weight of Jihoon’s leg feels heavy on his back as he nervously repeats the words in his brain.

They’ve been friends for 20 years and Soonyoung hasn’t come to his consensus about his growing crush on his best friend.

__

A shrill Bruno Mars’ song rings through the room while Soonyoung groans at the stiffness in his back. Hand aimlessly moving across the sheets to look for the device, he accidentally nudges Jihoon’s cheek as the shorter whines.

The taller murmurs a quick apology to the sleeping boy before silencing the phone, still staring at Jihoon’s soft features. Gentle snores came from his opened mouth, Soonyoung embraces the intimacy with the other before rolling off the bed.

Throwing on one of the hoodies lying on the floor, Soonyoung relishes in Jihoon’s cologne, smoothly fitting into the pink clothing.

“Wake up, Hoon. I’ll be meeting Junhui in… ten minutes so settle your own breakfast,” Soonyoung peers over the sleeping boy, waiting for Jihoon to murmur out a reply laced with a yawn before leaving.

__

“Never seen that hoodie on you,” Junhui peers at his approaching friend while Minghao nods in agreement.

“Stole it from Ji.” Shrugging, he squeezes into the booth, thanking the pair for the waffle treat and devouring into the fluffy waffles.

Junhui is one of the few people who knew of Soonyoung’s crush, so the reply had brought up a smirk and a teasing cough.

Minghao is busy updating his fashion blog to realise that Soonyoung was now a blushing mess, black locks naturally curled to further add on to his embarrassment.

Taking his chance, Soonyoung pulls out his notebook to show the two his most recent choreography idea. Dots and crosses decorated the page as the dancers huddled over in discussion.

In the midst of demonstrating the step Minghao couldn’t comprehend, Chan invites himself to the table, sitting beside Soonyoung.

“Settling stuff without me?” The younger questions, hopeful eyes looking at his seniors. Soonyoung bursts into laughter as usual, pushing the book to Chan’s view.

The quiet restaurant door opens, the cool spring breeze greeting the group and a new bunch of males enters, filled with cheeky shoves and boisterous chuckles.

“Square up, Seungkwan!” A familiar voice yells out a joking threat, his small figure standing out among the noisy males.

“Hoonie!!” Turning around, Soonyoung tosses a quick wave to his friend, causing Junhui to once again wiggle his brows before the other three send over a greeting as well.

Jihoon returns a grin, eyes becoming his signature crescents and he joins his friends for breakfast.

__

Shoving his phone into Junhui’s vision, Soonyoung’s cheeks are a faint blush as he exchanges glances with the taller.

“Do I look whipped in this picture?” Soonyoung begins. He had taken a photograph with Jihoon that afternoon and the shorter had grabbed his arms unlike Jihoon’s usual self. Basically, the picture had Soonyoung smiling wider than usual, his slanted eyes already very much crinkled.

Junhui scoffs, continuing to tap endlessly on his phone for a few more moments, switching between light laughter and scrutinising.

“Here. A picture of the dance team. Think you look whipped?” Junhui retorts, tossing Soonyoung his phone precariously, biting into the sandwich in his other hand.

WIncing at the sheer fact that Soonyoung had carried a grimace in the group photograph, he took a chance to stare at him with JIhoon again. His phone buzzes to notify him of a Instagram tag and he enters the application, the very picture brazenly staring back at him.

‘Love is like the wild rose-briar,  
Friendship like the holly-tree—  
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms  
But which will bloom most constantly?  
\- Emily Brontë’

Soonyoung likes the post before exiting the application.

__

Dance practice just ceased with the shocking announcement of the news of a recital in three months. The studio is vibrating with everyone’s intense excitement and genuine joy in being able to perform once again, people already deciding their pairs for the performance.

The instructor approaches Soonyoung, along with a new dance member. Soonyoung vaguely remembers watching her audition, her moves were effortlessly filled with fluidity and her creativity was easily expressed through her choreography.

“Hey Soonyoung, for the upcoming recital, we were wondering if you are able to perform a duet with Chungha besides the team performance you have? It’ll be a great addition to your portfolio,” the instructor introduces him to the familiar girl, her hopes already high to have the opportunity to perform with such a respected senior.

Gratefully accepting the offer, Soonyoung gives Chungha his phone number and texts Junhui about it.

__

Soonyoung grips on tightly to his notebook, pants unevenly leaving his body as he frantically knocks on the door of the Literature Club. He had accidentally scheduled his meeting with Chungha to end three minutes before the club gathering starts. Despite running for his life, Soonyoung still ends up late, and very afraid.

Several pairs of eyes are fixated at him, Soonyoung hurriedly scampering into the room to slide into the seat beside Jihoon. His best friend looks at him in an instant, poetry sheets already laid neatly on the table.

A cup of coffee sits at the table, untouched.

“That’s yours,” Jihoon whispers, unamused at the sweating Soonyoung.

__

The club meeting ends on the dot as usual, Jihoon and Soonyoung making their way back to the dormitory, their shoulder bags hitting each other every time Soonyoung moves in closer to avoid ramming into another student. The walk back is unexpectedly silent for someone talkative like Soonyoung.

Jihoon halts in his tracks and Soonyoung just returns back a confused gaze, his heart palpitating like crazy and Soonyoung wishes he could just melt on the spot, leave his heart there to solve its own problems.

“You’re hiding something from me,” Jihoon blurts out, grip tightening on the cup of cold coffee he held in his hand.

Soonyoung internally releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The both of them had been so caught up with their own personal work that Soonyoung never had the chance to blabber to Jihoon about the upcoming recital and his first time performing a duet.

“O-oh right! I totally forgot to tell you. I have this recital coming up.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’ll be performing as usual with Junhui, Minghao and Chan but this is the first time my instructor is assigning me to perform a duet with someone else!” Soonyoung exclaims, the pair resuming their trip back to their room. His contentment is easily seen that Soonyoung was so busy revelling in his joy to notice how Jihoon’s shoulders drop slightly at the continuous mention of a ‘female duet partner’.

__

When Jihoon sees Soonyoung asleep on his bed, he pulls out his phone to slowly type in ‘Kim Chungha’. An account belonging to a student in the same university appears in his search bar and Jihoon spends the night scrolling through her pictures.

Jihoon stares up at the small clock at the top of his screen and gawks. ‘3:08am’ mocks him, as he sighs in defeat. Amidst getting ready for sleep, his finger presses on the ‘follow’ button.

‘Take, oh take those lips away,  
That so sweetly were forsworn,  
\- William Shakespeare.’

__

“Soonyoung! Are you close to this Jihoon guy?” Chungha brings up Jihoon’s name, while the pair are huddled at the corner of a eatery.

The male widens his gaze at Chungha.

“Yeah, he’s my… best friend!” Soonyoung swiftly replies, nervously sipping on his coffee.

Chungha nods in response, showing the follow she received from Jihoon yesterday. Almost choking on his drink, Soonyoung unconsciously takes the phone from her grasp and clicks into the account. Yeah, that was Lee Jihoon alright. What was he doing following Chungha immediately after Soonyoung tells him about her?

A tinge of bitterness creeps up in him as he dejectedly returns the phone to its owner.

“Seems like he isn’t just your friend?” the girl teases, placing her phone on the table on the scraps of papers scattered messily on the surface.

“What makes you think that?” Soonyoung attempts to defend his sorry self from blushing, his cheeks already heating up at the mention of Jihoon’s name. He thinks of the male, his smile, his laughter… him in general.

“-you see? Daydreaming about him,” Chungha snaps him out of his thoughts, Soonyoung timidly scratches his nape while darting the focus back to the choreography layouts.

The afternoon passes by unknowingly quickly, the pair had already came up with the song they would like to perform with and about half of the steps on the routine. Soonyoung promises Chungha to have their next planning session at the studio instead of the eatery where he spends more of the time stuffing his face with fries than listening to Chungha at all. Anyway, the recital rehearsal was in a month, he could use the energy for the future days of not sleeping.

“Anyway. Maybe let Jihoon know how you feel?” the girl brings up the conversation again, as they walk towards the university student residences. Soonyoung tiredly tells her about Jihoon liking girls and maybe even her.

Hearing that, Chungha sputters out her words, chuckling obnoxiously loudly, the laptop in her arms threatening to fall on the floor. Soonyoung raises his brows at the female, unsure of the reason why she seemed to be gasping for air from laughing so much.

“Or he is checking on me to make sure you stay as his only,” Chungha offers Soonyoung, both of them reaching the building Chungha resides at. The girl tosses him a quick wave before rushing into the lift.

The weird conversation he just had makes Soonyoung even more distraught. He thought that Chungha’s opinion might have the slightest chance of being true but, how in the world does the Lee Jihoon, his best friend of eternity, like him back?

__

 

Soonyoung arrives back at the apartment with a muffled yawn. He greets Jihoon who was rereading his poetry again and Soonyoung giggles.

“You’re more interested in poetry than I am,” the male playfully pokes Jihoon, throwing his body onto the bed beside the shorter.

Jihoon playfully shoves Soonyoung, the strong stench of fries and burgers making his nose twitch.

“Get a shower then we’ll talk,” Jihoon scowls at Soonyoung, but still affectionately pats down the stray strands of the other’s hair. His cheeks flare red and Soonyoung instantly rolls off the bed and silently enters the shower.

A jet of water sounded from the bathroom and Jihoon sneakily pulls out his phone at the sound of a notification. Half-heartedly expecting Seungcheol to tag him in a funny video, Jihoon gapes at the hideous words imprinted in his screen.

‘chungha.96 is now following you!’ Jihoon hurriedly returns to the same account he was looking at during the wee hours of the morning, incredulously muttering out a string of incoherent words as he looks at the account which he apparently had already followed.

If this is the way he is going to die, Jihoon would rather not know Soonyoung at all. The male groans into his pillow to muffle out his agony before he hears the shower stop and he arranges the slips of paper, hurls them under his pillow and pretends to sleep.

Soonyoung steps into the room, his torso bare except for a towel clinging onto his waist. His foot steps onto a piece of paper lying on the floor and he bends down to pick it up.

‘You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,  
You are soft as the nesting dove.  
Come to my heart and bring it to rest  
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.  
\- Paul Laurence Dunbar.’

Soonyoung can’t recall Jihoon being fond of love poetry. He reads through the entire work, cheeks reddening at the sheer thought of the possibility of Jihoon’s own voice reading out this wonderful passage to him.

Measure after measure, Soonyoung drops the paper in realisation. If he knows that Jihoon hated love poetry, Jihoon was definitely reading up on these poems to prove himself to someone. Someone in Literature Club. Someone they both know. 

Holding back a disappointed sigh that is on the verge of leaving his lips, Soonyoung gently places the paper at the feet of Jihoon’s bed and clambers onto his bed to fall into a restless slumber.

Jihoon opens his eyes minutes later, scurrying to hide the last paper under his grasp. He prays with all his might the other is not observant as usual and never notices the ‘To: Soonyoung’ written in small, timid handwriting. 

He presses his finger against the penciled words, eyes looking over at Soonyoung’s back facing him. Jihoon successfully inserts all the papers into his pillowcase and he turns off the lights.

Fighting with his entire will, Jihoon climbs into the familiar bed, embracing the warmth of Soonyoung, his arms wrapping around Soonyoung’s waist.

__

The rehearsal for the recital went by extremely well, Junhui slapping a breathless pat on Soonyoung’s back as he gulped down a bottle of water.

“Jihoon’s here,” Junhui whispers to Soonyoung, capping the bottle and tossing it to Minghao who was changing back to his normal attire.

‘Unbelievable.’ Soonyoung blatantly gave his friend a burning glare, Chungha coming into his view to pass him a notepad filled with words. She casually slides down to the ground to sit cross-legged beside him.

Soonyoung hears Junhui sigh in exasperation as he obnoxiously yelled out, “Hey Jihoon!” before signalling to said male with his arms. The seated dancer freezes, Chungha eagerly looking in front to see a silhouette of Jihoon at the doorway of the backstage of the auditorium.

“My time here is up,” Chungha winks at Soonyoung, quickly informing him of the notes she took down about their duet performance, grabbing her bag and giving Jihoon a bright smile as she leaves the room.

Junhui retrieves his jeans from his bag and hurries off to change out of his sweaty track pants. That leaves… Jihoon and Soonyoung.

The dancer awkwardly fiddles with his empty bottle of water as Jihoon continues to stand a few inches away from him.

“You did great with Chungha!” Jihoon’s enthusiastic remark somehow dampens Soonyoung’s mood by a few notches. He proceeds to stand up to leave, his body brushing past Jihoon’s as the shorter grips his wrist tightly.

“Uh, someone wanted you to have this,” Jihoon stutters out his words, before enveloping Soonyoung’s sweaty body in his arms and scampers off for his next lecture. The taller looks at the slip of folded paper in his palm, eyes afraid of what was within the paper.

‘I recognize your voice, your sounds,  
though if I knew no better,  
I could be any man in any room.  
\- Roddy Lumsden.’

Junhui appears behind him with a curious glance, eyes fixed on the slip of paper in Soonyoung’s hand. He urges Soonyoung to read it, before packing up and running off for his lunch appointment with his other friends.

Despite Junhui’s words, Soonyoung throws the paper into the bin as he walks out of the room.

‘hey soonyoung, maybe we could be more than just best friends? -ji’

__

 

Jihoon expected at least a rejection from Soonyoung but for the past few days, the said male had avoided coming back to even sleep and he skipped the lectures he and Jihoon had together. What more about Literature Club?

Three sessions with Soonyoung’s absence, the male surprisingly enters the room with a frown etched on his lips. Jihoon had heard that he was on the danger of being kicked out of the Club if he stopped attending the sessions for more than three times, so Jihoon understands why Soonyoung returned back with his thinner than usual poetry notebook and sits rows away from Jihoon. 

The untouched, hopeful cup of coffee stayed undrank. 

Soonyoung vanishes after the poetry sharing session and Jihoon helplessly looks for Junhui for help, his eyes teary from the pain of losing Soonyoung, the utter heartbreak of letting go of his dumb excuse of a best friend.

Junhui ends up pampering Jihoon with hot chocolate, blankets and several head pats until Jihoon falls asleep on the sofa as soon as Soonyoung enters the apartment with Chinese take-out and Chungha.

The taller runs over to Jihoon’s side, fingers instinctively running against Jihoon’s, softening at the other’s sleeping figure. Junhui sighs at the pair as he stands up to unpack the food with Chungha.

The female passes Soonyoung an extra bowl of noodles and motions him to wake Jihoon up to at least ensure he didn’t starve. Before he did so, Soonyoung gazes at the dark eyebags that hung mercilessly beneath Jihoon’s eyes and the dried tear stains along his cheeks.

He lightly taps Jihoon, heart racing at the mere thought of just exchanging eye contact with Jihoon. Soonyoung was just so afraid he would blurt out his feelings for Jihoon, and their friendship would be ruined forever. 

Friendship pact, over and in the drain.

He lays the bowl on the table and shakes Jihoon awake before running out of the house, ignoring the calls from his friends as he feels the world collapse, tears endlessly streaming down his cheeks.

Soonyoung appears at the door of Minghao’s apartment, hair strewn and clothes stained with tears. He falls into Minghao’s arms, weakly whispering, “Don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

He treasured Jihoon too much to lose him.

__

Soonyoung awoke to music softly blaring through the speakers and he feels his rough hands against the soft duvet. His legs ache and his eyes are swollen.

“Hey, you awake?” Chungha’s voice sounded from the door as Soonyoung meets her worried glance. She enters the room and shuts the door, eyes filled with pity.

“I don’t know what in the world were you thinking of yesterday but remember our recital is in two weeks. You can’t mess yourself up, and completely ignore how others are caring for you,” she criticises, arms folded across her chest.

‘Because I love you, and beneath the uncountable stars  
I have become the delicate piston threading itself through your chest,

I want to tell you a story I shouldn’t but will and in the meantime neglect, Love,  
the discordant melody spilling from my ears but attend,  
\- Ross Gay.’

__

The layers of makeup plastered onto his forehead and cheeks started to feel heavy as Soonyoung bounces on his feet, hearing the emcee read out the performers of tonight’s recital.

The auditorium is full, the applauses of excitement resounding in the hall. Soonyoung feels Junhui’s comforting fingers slot within his, reminding himself to take in a deep breath. The lights dim and the first junior dancers line themselves on stage, positioning themselves and waited for the music to be played.

After many performances, Soonyoung quickly runs onto stage alongside Junhui, Minghao and Chan. His eyes flit over the crowd, from the first row seats, seeing familiar faces and stopping at one face.

The music begins and Soonyoung starts to dance.

As his three companions leave the stage, Soonyoung takes in deep breaths as he notices Chungha on the stage beside him, her dress complimenting her figure. His eyes are still staring at the same face in the crowd.

Forcing out a stifled grin, Soonyoung feels his heart leap when Jihoon grins back.

__

The post-recital buzz hasn’t died down till everyone squeezes into Chan’s house for the celebration party. Cups of spiked juice are being passed around and Soonyoung rejects a drunk guy’s offer for the nth time that night.

Pop songs echo in his ear drums, the dancer feeling a slight migraine creeping up his head. Grabbing a cracker from the bowl and chewing on the oddly soft chip, Soonyoung breathes in deeply when he finally steps out onto the balcony.

The party seems to be enclosed within the house, many congratulatory praises showered at the dancers who were still in the mood to drink alcohol and dance along to the music.

Soonyoung plays with the crumbs on his finger, burying his face into his hands after. His dumb heart is still running a hundred kilometre race after he recalls the loving smile tugging on Jihoon’s lips.

“Didn’t know you’ll be here,” Soonyoung misses that voice. He spent ages avoiding Jihoon by giving stupid excuses just not to be near Jihoon’s proximity. By doing so, he hopes he would have lost feelings for the shorter but Soonyoung’s plans never go well.

The taller passes off a stiff grin to Jihoon before staring at the stars dotting across the skyline.

“I would have joined Music Club if you didn’t force me to try out some weird Literature Club,” Jihoon suddenly brings up, eyes following the stars.

Soonyoung chuckles. He thinks of the time Jihoon had almost murdered him when he showed the shorter the confirmation letter to join the Literature Club.

“You like it more than I do now, though,” Soonyoung points out, before chortling at Jihoon’s expression.

In the midst of his laughter, Jihoon hurriedly pulls Soonyoung nearer to him.

“I missed you.” They both unknowingly say, cheeks tinting pink at the fact that they’re both so close to each other.

“You are sweet, O Love, dear Love, You are soft as the nesting dove. Come to my heart and bring it to rest. As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.” Jihoon recites slowly, eyes never leaving Soonyoung’s.

If that is Jihoon’s way of telling Soonyoung he found a new partner, Soonyoung is going to break into tears right on that spot.

“I found that poem online. Reminds me of you,” the shorter shockingly reveals, his cheeks already blushing when he takes Soonyoung’s hands into his.

Before Soonyoung knew it, his eyes are wide open in surprise and gazing at Jihoon who is so near to him. Their lips are so close that Soonyoung decides to fuck it and pulls Jihoon closer to him, connecting their lips together.

It is as if their lips are made for each other as they smoothly glide over each other, Soonyoung opens his closed eyes to see Jihoon’s closed with pleasure. When they broke off to breathe, Soonyoung breathlessly places a gentle kiss on Jihoon’s forehead, nose then lips once again.

“S-sorry,” Soonyoung breaks out from his reverie, panicking as he moves away from Jihoon.

“I love you,” Jihoon slices the silence with three words, closing the gap again to run his fingers through Soonyoung’s hair, breathing in the light scent of sweat, cologne and Soonyoung.

“W-what?” Soonyoung whispers, feeling Jihoon’s tight embrace.

“I don’t know if you’re attached with the Chungha girl or anything but yeah,” Jihoon breaks off the contact to smile dejectedly at the taller.

Hearing that, Soonyoung stares at the shorter, before planting a peck on Jihoon’s cheeks lovingly.

“I love you more than you know.”

__

“You guys finally stopped pining after each other?” Junhui gasps in fake-shock and Chungha shaking her head jokingly a the pair.

Soonyoung intertwines his fingers with Jihoon and fondly plants a peck on Jihoon’s forehead.

‘The grammar  
of the spoken word will flip, let alone

the written, until something new is  
in us, and in our conversation.  
\- Jennifer Michael Hecht.’

**Author's Note:**

> BIG NEWS!! this is another milestone for me ... wait till i do 10k fics with even worse english at 3am but yeah thanks for reading !!
> 
>  
> 
> kudos to loser [@hotaaaru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotaaaru) or [@lunarcoups](https://twitter.com/lunarcoups) for helping me out with the stiff phrasing <3
> 
> hmu [@twitter](https://twitter.com/chuukwan)


End file.
